


Progress

by JenCforCarolina



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Destiny Guardians, Gen, destiny titan, destiny warlock, fireteam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 04:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6105186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How a Guardian got one of their most treasured weapons.<br/>Selene and Auburn, adventures of the I-hate-you-You-put-up-with-me crew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Progress

**Author's Note:**

> Selene is still a Voidwalker at this point, still trying to figure out her calling.
> 
>  
> 
> [Find it on tumblr](http://jencforcarolina.tumblr.com/post/112937810608/progress)

Now, Selene wasn’t the first Exo Auburn had met.

She knew an Exo hunter fairly well, and had hung out with an Exo titan for a bit on the moon a few weeks ago. She even stopped to chat with Cayde once in awhile; he liked to hear stories and she loved to talk. But all of them knew how to communicate with other Guardians that weren’t too good at reading their lights. She was practicing -learning the meanings- but as with all the other languages she had learned during her life, it was slow going and took patience from both parties. Most Exos she had met were helpful, and politely corrected her if she misinterpreted or offered meanings to flashing she didn’t yet understand.

Selene just did not give a _fuck._

She offered no help, and did not let a single mistake go.

Perversely, that had helped Auburn learn some concepts faster. Just like she could equate facial expressions formed by eyebrows and lips, she could equate combinations of lights in the throat and cheeks to emotions.

Some of those learned from her time with Selene were “annoyance,” “frustration,” “rage,” and “I swear, do not make a single comment about how badly I just did.”

That last one was the vibe she was getting now, judging by the throat lights pulsing through Selene’s open collar. The Exo had taken to leaving the very top unfastened and her neck exposed in order to fully convey her emotions; without having to actually say words to her all-too human mentor.

Auburn respected her wishes.

She walked past her student, giving her a wide berth, and crouched to inspect the corpse of the nearest dreg. Poor thing wasn’t even dead yet due to Selene’s poor aim with literally everything. Its entire left leg and half its right were atomized and scattered across the infinity of space -the only victim of Selene’s poorly-formed nova bomb. Furthermore, its chest was torn apart by auto rifle rounds, and it still lived. It was probably in shock, unmoving due to its muscles being locked up. Quietly, as to not draw her charge’s attention, she took the knife from her hip and put it through the dreg’s skull. Retracting the blade and stowing it, she searched the body for the ether sups. She found them shattered and full of bullet holes.

Again, she made no comment.

She snuck glances at Selene from behind her visor, watched the Warlock kicking through her other victims. Literally kicking. She was kicking the bodies until they turned over so she could examine them for their sups. Judging by the ferocity of each new blow, she wasn’t having any luck on finding undamaged sups either. Her frustration was starting to compound with every group of Fallen they came across. Her aim got even worse, if that was possible, when she was frustrated. And the worse her aim was the more annoyed she became… it was an endless loop.

But that was what Auburn was here for, what she had volunteered for. It was her job to get this Guardian to either improve her attitude enough to join a team, or improve her aim enough to be able to run solo.

Preferably both.

She examined a vandal, found it in much the same state as the dreg. She lifted it onto its side and propped it up against her knee to hide her hand from view. She tapped the ground twice, and her ghost silently materialized two sups she had palmed from an earlier batch.

“Here. Found a couple.” Auburn stood and held the sups out. “Not too bad.”

Selene strode over and swiped them out of her hand. “Yeah. Right.”

“Hey.” The Titan admonished. “At least you’re hitting them. Center of mass too. You might not be getting headshots yet, but you’re getting them in a pretty lethal spot.” It was true -she was slowly improving. Progress was being made.

“Yes. Lethal. Because my nova-bomb killed so many of them.”

With a friend Auburn would have made a comment about her sarcasm being lethal, but with Selene she opted instead for encouragement.

“You’ll get a Warlock mentor soon enough. Ikora just has to find one that will mesh with you.”

Selene made a whirring sound that Auburn assumed was synonymous to a human hissing in exasperation. She wasn’t spitting obscenities about her Vanguard though. Further progress.

“I don’t want another mentor. I don’t want any mentor.” She corrected herself quickly. Couldn’t let anyone assume she liked Auburn, now could she?

“Well you know what? Fact of the matter is, you’re stuck with me for a while, and the only way you won’t be is if you get better. So let’s do it.”

Her throat lights flickered a bit, either infatuation or confusion. Auburn decided to go with the latter.

“Maybe you need a better rifle. How many have you tried besides the scout rifle you borrowed earlier?”

Selene shrugged. “Just this one.”

Her mentor held out a hand for it. She begrudgingly handed it over.

“This thing… It’s ancient.” Auburn looked up from turning it over in her hands. “The Vanguard gave you this?”

“No. I found it. About a week after coming back to life.”

“Out there?” She jerked a thumb towards the wall of the Cosmodrome. Selene kind of shrugged and nodded at the same time, her throat displaying something Auburn didn’t quite read.

“You know when you logged at the tower, Ikora gave you an arms request, right? You could have just gone to the gunsmith and he would have given you a better one.”

The same throat lights. And Selene wasn’t meeting her gaze.

“Can you explain what you’re feeling?” Auburn asked suddenly. She tapped her throat when the other woman looked up at her. “I can’t read what that means. Can you explain it for me?”

In response, the Exo purposefully solidified the lights to their neutral state. At least she didn’t immediately revert to ‘fuck you.’ Progress.

“I guess we have to go back to the tower then. If I’m going to get a better gun.”

“No, hang on, I might have something.”

“I don’t like scout rifles.”

“I know.”

She handed back the old auto rifle and motioned for her Ghost. “Get that pulse rifle we have.”

“The strange one? Are you sure?”

“Yeah. It had good stability.” He hesitated a moment, then materialized it in her hands. She held the gun out to Selene. The other Guardian took it gingerly. Black and orange with an odd blue glow where the barrel began, something akin to arc light.

“What the hell is this thing?” Selene sounded almost awed. Auburn took note of her lights. She was learning today too. Progress.

“Pulse rifle of some kind. A gift from an ally. Scout says it shouldn’t even exist.” The Warlock made no positive or negative comment, so she continued. “Pulse rifles are somewhere between scout rifles and auto rifles, okay? It fires in three round bursts, so it mixes precision with more shots.”

Selene shrank away from the thing a bit, humming a sound of distaste.

“Try it at least?” Auburn pleaded. “If you like it, it’s yours. If not, you can give it back.”

She considered it again, played with the clip release, and aimed down sights. Her elbow stuck out awkwardly to the side. Auburn reached out and touched it, nudging it into a better position.

Once Selene would have slapped her hand away; now she merely flinched purposefully and grunted.

Progress.

“Come on. Let’s go find something for you to practice on.”

“You said it was a gift.”

Auburn paused. “Yeah.” She said brightly. “And now it’s a gift to you. Assuming you want it.”

Selene held her gaze for a few moments. “I’ll try it out.” She turned on her heel and strode off, calling on her Ghost to scan for Fallen contacts.

Auburn allowed herself a smile. She did care.

Progress.


End file.
